Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini tipped his expensively-assembled team to overcome their UEFA Champions League nerves after making a "naive" return to Europe's elite competition on Wednesday.
Mancini admitted his side had suffered a bout of stage fright after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Serie A side Napoli at the Etihad Stadium in their opening Group A game. While the result is by no means a disaster, City already find themselves under pressure ahead of their next match away to Bayern Munich, who opened their campaign with a 2-0 victory over Villarreal in Spain, on 27 September.
But Mancini is confident his side can recover from their shaky start and win in Germany. "I think before the game we were so nervous because it was the first game," said Mancini, after watching Aleksander Kolarov salvage a point after Edinson Cavani had fired Napoli into the lead.
"All the players wanted to win this game and they all wanted to score. If we play easy, simple, we can play better. But it was the first game, I enjoyed it, all the players played at 100 per cent and against Napoli that was a good result."
/football on Youtube brings you the latest football news, transfer rumours and footballing gossip from the English Premier League and European Champions League.
Mancini admitted his side had suffered a bout of stage fright after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Serie A side Napoli at the Etihad Stadium in their opening Group A game. While the result is by no means a disaster, City already find themselves under pressure ahead of their next match away to Bayern Munich, who opened their campaign with a 2-0 victory over Villarreal in Spain, on 27 September.
But Mancini is confident his side can recover from their shaky start and win in Germany. "I think before the game we were so nervous because it was the first game," said Mancini, after watching Aleksander Kolarov salvage a point after Edinson Cavani had fired Napoli into the lead.
"All the players wanted to win this game and they all wanted to score. If we play easy, simple, we can play better. But it was the first game, I enjoyed it, all the players played at 100 per cent and against Napoli that was a good result."
/football on Youtube brings you the latest football news, transfer rumours and footballing gossip from the English Premier League and European Champions League.
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